There is no denying that there are problems with the marijuana laws currently in place in the United States. On the left and right, there are people who use marijuana with blatant disregard for the fact that it is actually prohibited. The marijuana black market is spiraling out of control. As a result, drug-related street crimes have become more prevalent, which, in turn, has increased the number of offenders in prison for such crimes. This is very expensive for the US government. Additionally, there are personal dangers of purchasing drugs on the black market. By legalizing marijuana, the government could help solve the problems caused by the laws currently in place. Several effects of marijuana prohibition have to do with the economy; Improving our economic situation would be one of the biggest benefits of legalizing marijuana. First, illegal marijuana sales are booming. According to an article on Cedro-uva.org, people often pay more than eight dollars per gram for the drug, spending approximately nine billion dollars each year (Harrison)! Most of these costs are due solely to retailer inflation. Drugs are often bought and resold multiple times, and their prices increase with each sale. Retailers sell their products for hundreds of times the production costs, making huge personal profits with each sale. This money then leaves the economic system and ends up in the pockets of traders instead. Having less money circulating in the economy puts a strain on the system. In this way, illegal marijuana sales directly contribute to the economic deficit our country is currently in. If marijuana were made legal, the government could tax it heavily, which would generate billions of dollars in revenue that could… . .. half of the article ......edro-uva.org/lib/harrison.cannabis.04.html>.Henningfield, Jack E. “Addictive Properties of Popular Drugs.” Drug War Facts. August 2, 1994. Web. December 14, 2011. "NIDA Information: Marijuana." National Institute of Drug Abuse, November 2010. Web. December 12, 2011. “Marijuana Use and Its Effects.” WebMD - Better information. Web. December 13, 2011. .Messerli, Joe Legalized under any circumstances?" BalancedPolitics.org. August 6, 2011. Web. December 14, 2011. .Thomas, Chuck. "Marijuana arrest and incarceration in the United States." Ron Mullins For the United States Senate (D).. 2011. .